Sunday 28th September 2025

The Vikings visited Farnham Park for their fourth Hit and Run Tournament on Sunday and came away winners. After a disappointing outing at the spring even back in April, this year has seen the Vikings reach Gold-level Semi-Finals at Solent Firstball and Lastball, win the Silver Final at Indoor as well as the Solent League Division Two title.

After a drive over to Slough to the Farnham Park National Softball Centre, the Vikings started their round-robin play against London-based Glove Island. A nervy start was punctuated by two homers in the opening two innings, with both Jaane Rowehl (2RBIs) and Tom Anderson scoring. A scoreless half-inning from Glove Island had the score at 4-3 to the Londoners. Adam Tempest plated two runs on a Homer in the third, following up with another in the fourth after a one-run blast from Scott Summers to end the contest with a Vikings 9-4 win.

There was no rest as the Rattlesnakes were the next opponents. A more fluid offensive production from the start in this one, with Jaane Rowehl scoring 2RBIs after two walks put runners on base. A loud sac-fly pushed her across to take the score to 3-0. More runs and two homers in the second inning from Andi Bambeck (3RBIs) and Tom Anderson (2RBIs) followed by another excellent defensive in a 1-run reply had the score at 10-1. Doug Sutherland scored a lead-off home run that encouraged captain Scott Summers to do too much after injury the previous week at Solent lastball. Whilst he did manage to avoid the tag at third to record a triple, a calf injury on the play would keep him out of running the base-paths for the rest of the day.

Continual singles were cleared with another Tom Anderson homer, this time a grand slam. With the score 17-1 and time expiring, you can forgive a relaxed approach as the Rattlesnakes managed to score 7, but the final was still a second Vikings victory of the day - 17-8.

Bangers & Smash 2 were up after a short reprieve. A very tight affair only saw a single run across in the first one and a half innings with the opposition 1-0 up at the bottom of the second inning. A lead-off double from Anderson and a walk from Sarah Rigg allowed Doug Sutherland's single to get the Vikings on the board. Another four runs came home for the Vikings, garnering a 5-1 lead. A lead which was only just preserved after a 3-run inning from the London-based Bangers & Smash 2. The Vikings did manage to extend the lead in the third, scoring twice from a walk and a single. With a 3-run lead to protect, albeit with a potential half-inning to respond in these timed games, the Vikings only permitted two runs to come across and remain 100% on the day with a 7-6 victory.

The Reading Blue Bolts were immediately next on the schedule and with some tired legs, the first three half-innings were scoreless. Again, the game was opened up in the bottom of the 2nd, a 3-run homer from Doug Sutherland followed by a Summers RBI single to move the score to 4-0. The Blue Bolts get their bats working and responded with three runs of their own, but this was matched in the bottom half with a 2-run triple from Anderson and an RBI single from Sarah Rigg. The Blue Bolts could only manage 1 run in reply to take the score to 7-4 and an Adam Tempest home-run ultimately didn't count as time expired with the Vikings in a winning position.

The Vikings moved onto the Gold-level semi finals with the hope of moving onto their first final after so many near-misses this season. The draw pitted them against the Bangers & Smash 2 team for the second time on the day. The Vikings bats were clearly the warmer of the two teams, with 8 runs coming across to secure an early 8-1 lead. A quiter 2nd inning had only Andi Bambeck scuttle home on an errant throw for a 9-1 lead. Two runs apiece in the third inning as Adam Tempest scored both with a 2-run single. A scoreless half-inning from B&S2 allowed a relaxing end to the game, with time expiring with the Vikings 11-3 winners.

A short hour to relax and recuperate before the Final against the flamboyantly attired Parrots. A tense start to the game with yet another quiet opening innings. A 2-run single from Summers pushed the score to 3-1 after two innings before two big third innings from both teams. A grand-slam from Anderson after a 1-run single from Kath Hewson put the Vikings 8-1 up before the Parrots responded with 6 of their own for the lead be dragged back to just 1. A scrappy two runs came home in the 4th inning thanks to a double from Bambeck and the Vikings defense came back around to limit the Parrots to just one. A 10-8 scoreline became 13-8 as the sun went down and the mist rose up (pictured). Another Sutherland homer and a sacrifice from Rowehl either side of a 1-run double from Tempest. 

In a nervy final half-inning which was to be played out, tired legs and a setting sun in the defense's eyes, the Parrots also scored 3 and put runners on base. With two outs and the winning run stepping into the batters box, a ground-out to Andi Bambeck at first sealed the win and the overall Tournament.